Proud trans ally Melanie C received a ‘huge education’ working with drag queens and non-binary dancers
Melanie C performing at WorldPride NYC 2019 (Roy Rochlin/Getty)
Melanie C reflected on the profound impact working with drag queens and non-binary performers has had on her.
The Spice Girl toured the world with drag troupe Sink the Pink during Pride season 2019, and also release a collaborative single with them, titled “High Heels”.
She told the Homo Sapiens podcast that the experience helped her find a “new level of self-acceptance, getting to know drag queens, and some of my dancers being non-binary as well”.
“It was a huge education to me,” Melanie C said. “I feel really emotional when I talk about it.”
The singer admitted to having felt intimidated initially.
“I’d seen all these drag queens, everybody looking fierce. I thought, wow this is so intimidating,” she said.
As soon as she met them, however, she felt “such a wonderful feeling of warmth and love and inclusivity” and “fell in love with them immediately”.
Melanie C has long been a vocal supporter of the trans community and says she’s “very proud” to be a trans ally.
Reminiscing about the Spice Girls, she said: “I always knew that the Spice Girls were very much so loved by the LGBTQ+ community, but I never took responsibility for that personally.”
Spice Girls had secret meeting after lockdown.
She also revealed that the Spice Girls met secretly at Geri Halliwell’s house after the first UK lockdown “just to reminisce” after the pandemic “made [her] reevaluate things”.
“We all went over to Geri’s place in the country, and we sat down and had a cup of tea,” she said.
“We are not allowed to talk about work, we are not allowed to talk about business, we are just going to chill. No photos, no social media, and it was all because of this experience we wanted to connect, wanted to check in with each other.”
She also recalled a story of Geri Horner (née Halliwell) stealing a Filofax from their manager, Simon Fuller.
“We had made the decision that we were going to leave Simon Fuller, but he did hold the cards with everything, and had a PA and she had a Filofax, and Geri had… some second hand, stitched up old granny bag.
“[Geri] stole the PA’s Filofax because everybody’s numbers were in it. And then we had to go and rehearse for the MTV Awards doing “Spice Up Your Life” and she did the whole rehearsal – there was a big catwalk and everything – she did the whole thing with this bag on her shoulder.”
